Organic phosphate



Sept. 3, 1940.

wl D. BANCROFT ET AL ORGANIC PHOSPHATE Filed Aug'. 24, 1938 HAS BEEN REPLACED wm-a PLANT NUTRIENTS ALKYL APPucATmN TO THE Sou.

INCREASED BACTERIAL Ac-nvrrY NoN PHOSPHATIC FERTILIZER AVAILABLE TO PLANTS Gnaup AVAILABLE CARBON FURTHER INCREASE IN BACTERIAL Ac'rlvrrv DECOMPOSITION 0F ORGAN: PHOSPHATE IN Sou. SaLUTIoNAT OPTIMUM RATE Fan MAXIMUM AVAILABILITY AVAILABLE PHoamonus A8 A PLANT NUTRIENT \N/mm 0. BANCRDFT \AMES l1. MLso/v awn Vol-0v E. RUTZLE JR Patented Sept. 3, 1940 ORGANIC PHOSPHATE Wilder D. Bancroft, James K. Wilson, and John E. Rutzler, Jr., Ithaca, N. Y.

Application August 24, 1938, Serial No. 226,552

' 4 Claims. 01. 71-27) Our invention relates to a new fertilizer, and more particularly to a fertilizer consisting of mixtures of metallic salts of acid esters of 'phosphoric acid, each of which is so constructed. that 5 all the component parts of the mixture are utilizable by plants and soil bacteria. The present application is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Serial. No. 170,289, filed October 21, 1937. v

An object of our invention is to provide fertilizer mixtures which may be used to stimulate plants and soil bacteria without leaving a residue of non-utilizable material in the soil.-

Another object of our invention is to supply complete fertilizers having less bulk, in proportion to the plant food values they contain, than the fertilizers now in use.

A further object of our invention is to supply organic phosphates to the soil in such a form that bacterial activity will be stimulated and the organic phosphates caused to decompose at the optimum rate consistent with wide distribution and early availability, without at the same time supplying material which is unavailable to the growing plants.

Hitherto, it has been customary to employ such salts as, for example,rsodium nitrate, ammonium sulphate, and potassium chloride, as sources of nitrogen and potassium for growing plants. The

0 use of salts of this type has two great disadvantages. In the first place, the sodium in the sodium nitrate, the sulphate radical inthe ammonium sulphate, and the chlorine in the potassium chloride are extraneous materials of little value as 5 plant nutrients in the majority of cultivated soils and therefore tend to accumulate and also to change undesirably the acidity of the soil. Secondly, it is obviously uneconomical to apply to the soil a compound, an important fraction of the weight of which consists of non-utilizable material.

Besides these inorganic compounds, certain organic phosphates have also been advocated for' use'as fertilizer materials. These have usually consisted of compounds such as the methyl, ethyl and propyl esters of phosphoric acid which we have found are not sufliciently high-in available phosphorus'f-to meet the requirements of plants phosphates makes the phosphorus available to the plant during the early stages of its growth. However, such mixtures also have the disadvantage of incorporating into the soil suchnonutilizable materials as sodium, chloride and sul-' 5 phate. n

To overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, we have found that fertilizer'mixtures which produce excellent increases in plant growth without depositing any material in the soil which is not a 10 plant and bacterial nutrient can be made from organic phosphates which are esters of monohydric alcohols by neutralizing one or more unesterified hydrogens of phosphoric acid with plant nutrients. For instance, by the use of potas- 5 sium ammonium monoethyl phosphate the plant is supplied with the required potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus. Our invention can be carried out in another way. For example, we may add to the soil a mixture of potassium diethyl phosphate 20 and ammonium diethyl phosphate. 01', if it is desired also to-introduce calcium into the soil, we may for example use such a mixture as calcium diethyl phosphate and ammonium potassium monomethyl phosphate. All of these mixtures carry utilizable carbon as well as other sistent with deep and wide distribution in the soil and rapid availability of the phosphorus to the 35 plant.

The following are examples of mixtures which function-to supply all the major nutrients re-- quired by plants without introducing extraneous material into the soil. These mixtures are given 4 by way of example only; once the general principle is shown, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that our invention covers a wide variety of combinations. For-example, potassium, nitrogen, calcium, carbon and phosphorus can be in- 45 corporated in one mixture'in several ways, such as by the use of three dialkyl phosphates to one of which is attached potassium, to another ammonium and to the third calcium. On the other hand, one dialkyl phosphate and one monoalkyl phosphate may be used by attaching the two metallic atoms to the monoalkyl phosphate and the ammonium radical to the dialkyl phosphate,

or vice versa.

(1) We claim:

Pounds 1. A new fertilizer, all the component parts of Ammonium monomethyl phosphate; 100 which are utilizable by growing plants and which Potassium dimethyl phosphate"; does not affect the hydrogen ion concentration (2) of the soil when applied to the land, comprising a mixture of ammonium and potassium salts of Ammo m mo o sop opy p o p ate 5 esters made from a monohydric alcohol and an Potassium dimethyl D D 50 acid of phosphorus, said alkali metal replacing Calc um t y DhOSPhatB at least one unesterified hydrogenatom of the e (3) acid which forms theester, and said potassium salt constituting approximately 25 to 40% by Ammonium monomethyl phosphate 125 Weight of the total mixture Potassium diethyl phosphate 2. A new fertilizer, all the component parts (4) of which are utilizabie tby growing plants and which does not afiec he ydrogen ion con- AmmOPIwH ,monoethyl phosphate centration of the soil when applied to the land, potassmm dlfnethyl phosphate 50 comprising ammonium monoisopropyl phos- Potassmm dnsopmpyl phosphate 50 phate, potassium dimethyl phosphate and cal- By employing mixtures such as these, we are able to avoid introducing or to lessen the amount of extraneous matter, such as chlorides and sulphates, for example, introduced into the soil. At the same time we supply to the soil substances which stimulate bacterial activity, act as plant nutrients and promote increased availability of the organic phosphate. Many such mixtures and a variety of proportions of their ingredients may be employed to accomplish the desired results, as will be evident to those skilledin the art once our invention is disclosed. These mixtures have the added advantage that they have less tendency to change the hydrogen ion concentration of the soil solution than most commercial fertilizer mixtures which contain potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen.

While we have described the preferred forms of our invention, it is obvious that many modifications may be made therein by one skilled in the art, and therefore we wish the concept of our invention to be limited only by the prior art and the scope of the appended claims.

cium diethyl phosphate, said potassium salt comprising approximately 25% by Weight of .the total mixture.

3. A new fertilizer, all the component parts of which are utilizable by growing plants and which does not affect the hydrogen ion concentration of the soil when applied to the land,

comprising a mixture of ammonium monomethyl phosphate and potassium dimethyl phosphate, said potassium salt comprising approximately 33% by weight of the total mixture.

4. A new fertilizer, all the component parts of which are utilizable by growing plants and which does not afiect the hydrogen ion concentration of the soil when applied to the land, comprising ammonium monomethyl phosphate and potassium diethyl phosphate, said potassium salt comprising approximately 37 by weight of the total mixture.

WILDER D. BANCROF'I. ,JAMES K. WILSON. JOHN E. RUTZLER, JR. 

